School Shooting Chic

You have probably never heard of the label Bstroy, and hopefully you will never hear of them again after their extraordinarily offensive spring 2020 men’s collection of hoodies with holes, simulating bullet holes. What is profoundly obscene about this collection is that the hoodies bear the names of schools devastated by mass shootings: Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and Columbine.

Social media feedback was swift and blunt, with many comments coming from survivors and family members of victims of these shootings. One student at Stoneman Douglas texted “My dead classmates should not be a fucking fashion statement.”

Bstroy responded in a post that said the hoodies were to point out how unpredictable, and painfully ironic life can be.

About Jonathan

Jonathan Walford is a fashion historian and co-founder of the Fashion History Museum in Cambridge, Ontario. The FHM maintains a collection of nearly 12,000 artifacts dating from the mid 17th century to the present. Jonathan has authored various books and museum catalogues, including The Seductive Shoe, Shoes A-Z, Forties Fashion, 1950s American Fashion, and Sixties Fashion.